Airbus delivers first A350 from Chinese completion centre

Airbus has delivered its first A350 from its widebody completion centre in Tianjin, China. 

The aircraft, an A350-900 registered B-323H, was delivered to China Eastern Airlines, and is the 10th example in the airline’s fleet. 

Cirium fleets data shows the SkyTeam carrier has another 10 more A350s on order. It operates a fleet of more than 400 Airbus jets, including A320 family and A330 family aircraft, making it the largest Airbus operator in Asia. 

The Tianjin widebody completion and delivery centre is located at the same site with its A320 family final assembly line. It began operations in 2017 for A330 aircraft, with A350 capability added two years later. 

It covers aircraft completion activities, including cabin installation, aircraft painting and production flight test, as well as customer flight acceptance and aircraft delivery.

Hailing what he calls a “new milestone” in Airbus’ cooperation with China, Airbus China chief George Xu says: “I’m proud that Airbus successfully extended the capability of the widebody completion and delivery centre in Tianjin to the A350, the latest new generation aircraft, at such a difficult time of global aviation. This is a new milestone in the long-term cooperation between China and Airbus, which further demonstrates Airbus’ commitment to the country.”